Dan
Connell Tries to Legitimize Terrorism in Eritrea
Amanuel
Biedemariam
Terrorists killed US Ambassador to
Libya. In Turkey, a suicide bomber attacked the US embassy in Istanbul.
Americans on a daily basis are exposed to news about violence in public
institutions. However, regardless of how worthy, legitimate a cause may appear
to be, Americans will not condone, tolerate or accept any individual, group or
organization when force or, the threat of force is used to impose an agenda or
further a cause. Not a single American will tolerate, let alone try to spin it
in any way shape, if, for example, a group of Americans storm into the
headquarters of the Voice of America with tanks and demand their grievances
heard live on the air at gunpoint. Furthermore, if a single individual comes
out in support of such an act, try to justify it somehow; it is unacceptable
offense.
For over a decade, Dan Connell has
tried to incite chaos in Eritrea unsuccessfully. He has campaigned against the
people of Eritrea by working with the enemies of Eritrea hired by the genocidal
regime in Ethiopia. These are Ethiopians such as Selam Kidane, according to the
BBC, migrated to England from Ethiopia with her sister at the age of 16. Her
father and husband served as Ethiopian soldiers during the dictatorial Derg
Regime and killed many Eritreans. Connell is working with Meron Estifanos and
Elsa Chyrum who publicly admitted to have paid human traffickers in the Sinai.
Selam Kidane, Dan Connell et al have made numerous trips to Addis Ababa and met
with Ethiopian authorities.
In the name of democracy, freedom of
press, religion and a host of other causes, Dan Connell have set up activities,
organized meetings, and campaigned against the people and government of Eritrea
as well as companies that are working in Eritrea from Canada, the US and other
Western Countries. These are companies working to better the living standards
of the people of Eritrea. He has made it a personal mission to see Eritrea
destabilized and the government of Eritrea toppled regardless of the distance
he traveled and doors he knocked.
Eritreans are tolerant people that
tolerated Dan Connell's opportunism for a long time when he sold books,
received payments for lectures, publications and appearances as expert of
Eritrea and related matters, on their name. Over the last 5 years, he has
played active role, essentially leading the fight against the people and
government of Eritrea by acting more priest than the pope. Lately however, Connell
has amped-up his rhetoric and misinformation campaign against Eritrea to the
international community about events that took or, did not take place on
January 21.
Dan Connell exaggerates and misleads
with the hopes of creating a momentum. To that end, he has been organizing,
recruiting and assisting all the anti-Eritrean groups and individuals. Ahead of
a rally his group conducted in front of the Eritrean Embassy in DC on 2/08/13,
Connell met with Elsa Chyrum in Boston and, in the day of the rally, Connell
was a keynote speaker in Seattle to this very group. This is evidence that Dan
Connell is not a journalist reporting, or an outside observer; he in effect,
has taken a leadership role with a mission to dethrone the government of
Eritrea.
For most Eritreans it is obvious
what Dan Connell is trying to achieve. He wants to remain relevant, appear
informed about matters pertaining to Eritrea; most importantly however, he
wants to give impression that he has connection inside Eritrea. Dan Connell has
been very active appearing on TV, talk shows and writing articles. He does all
this to make money. However, what caught the attention of this author are the
statements below from an article in one of the anti-Eritrean website that he
posted; he said,
"The soldiers who occupied the
information ministry were fed up with their dictatorship and wanted everyone to
know it. So they marched into the state-run TV studios - there are no private
media - and broadcast a call for implementation of a constitution ratified 16
years ago but still gathering dust, and the release of political prisoners, of
which there are as many as 10,000. Then they went back to their barracks.
Arrests followed, but the message was out".
One can raise many questions about
the statement above like, what are your sources, what did they occupy, and what
does occupy mean? How do you know if they are soldiers? Most importantly
however, why is Dan Connell trying to justify a criminal terrorist act by
attacking the government of Eritrea? Would Mr. Connell, regardless of how solid
a cause, try to justify such an act, say for example, American soldiers storm
US government communication center in the US or elsewhere?
It is unfathomable that Dan Connell
will ever consider endorsing such a heinous act committed by American against
US interest. When it comes to Eritrea however, he is the expert, a pundit, a
Caucasian know it all-humanitarian expert, activist, pro-democracy advocate,
intellectual, lecturer and professor that could preach to poor African
illiterates, and educate them justice.
Dan Connell threw every insult,
talking point, defamation campaign-rhetoric against the people and government
of Eritrea without reservation. On his article, Connell labeled Eritrea as the
worst small country on earth. The question is why Dan Connell is so desperate
and what is he trying to achieve.
Is human right a concern for Dan
Connell? Why does not he pressure the US and Ethiopian governments to implement
the final and binding EEBC decision, why not be judicious in his approach and
urge Ethiopia to withdraw from sovereign Eritrean territories? Would that not,
help bring some stability, foster growth and economic cooperation between the
countries in the region? Peace and cooperation between Eritrea and Ethiopia
could help the displaced populations of both nations and stabilize the
populations. Should that not be a prerequisite for justice, if that truly is
what Connell seeks? Furthermore, why is Connell concerned about, as he called
it, a "tiny country," and tries to exaggerate a nonevent when millions of
Muslims are demonstrating regularly in the streets of Addis in Ethiopia?
The reality, Dan Connell is a greedy
Westerner that tries to perpetuate the legacy of slavery in the name of
justice. Democracy and human rights have become code names in Western circles
pushing for the re-colonization of Africa in a quest to bleed dry the resources
of Africa. Dan Connell's job is to mold the narrative of
Africa that is hungry, bloody, corrupt and unstable riddled by coups. In
addition, and always, only the West, led by individual-saviors from the west,
say Dan Connell can save Africa. What a sham!
On his article, Dan Connell dared to
describe Eritrea as "feisty." Dan Connell is very disrespectful of the people
of Eritrea. The people of Eritrea are astute, clever, brilliant and yes, feisty
in need, ferocious in defense of their country. Trying to minimize Eritrea as a
tiny sliver of a nation is disingenuous. Since, Eritrea is much larger than
many Western countries like England. And yes, Eritreans are far beyond the
understanding of the greed-laden imagination of Dan Connell. There is no coup
or uprising in Eritrea and there will never be.
The trajectory of Eritrea is far
different from other nations in Africa. Eritreans knew what they want, pursued
what they wanted and achieved what they wanted by paying in blood. The
political makeup of the people of Eritrea is different from other African
countries. Eritreans will never give independence they toiled and died for, to
empty street-rhetoric of an old shyster.
Furthermore, just to appease their
overhyped exuberance, Eritrea's military is a tested organ that withstood
decades of internationally conceived warfare and assaults designed to
annihilate Eritrea from existence.
Eritrea is a nation amongst nations with the most sophisticated armies
of the world! Eritrea has the most disciplined and educated army that is part
of the society. On February 9, Eritrea
celebrated the 23 anniversary of Operation Fenkil. Operation Fenkil is a military miracle that
uprooted Ethiopian existence from the Red Sea city of Massawa that paved way
for the independence of Eritrea. The victory is evidence of Eritreans wit,
bravery, valor and unmatched military fit.
Clearly, Dan Connell deluded himself
into thinking that he is an expert on Eritrea just because Eritrea's
leadership, at one time, gave him access as a journalist to interview them.
Sadly, Dan thinks that he can remote-control a rebellion using few confused and
disgruntled lost souls.
In closing, to demonstrate how
confused Connell's approach, attitude and descriptions are; quoting him,
"But feisty little Eritrea, which
got its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after defeating successive US- and
Soviet-backed armies in a 30-year war, has never fit the mold of postcolonial
African states, and it was not doing so now."
Eritrea is a decent sized nation
with decent people that got its independence in 1991 after defeating successive
US- and Soviet-backed Ethiopian armies in a 30-year war. The people of Eritrea
do not fit the mold of postcolonial African states that fall prey to western
trickery easily. Hence, it is delusional for a person such as Dan Connell to
dream of such a heist to a nation and people that defy all odds and build a
truly independent nation.
Dan is a bad gambler because he
threw away the trust that placed him on a global map for an ill- conceived
immoral agenda. No matter how much he tries to spin things, Eritrea will always
stand firm, for it is, planted in blood, firmly. Hence, in a greater scheme of
things, Dan Connell will not amount to nothing just another noise in the
jungle.
Wetru Awet N-Hafash
Awetnayu_at_hotmail.com
Received on Sun Feb 10 2013 - 10:27:30 EST
